Was E.T. in Star Wars? The Extra Terrestrial’s Canon Appearance Explained

Cinematic universes are all the rage these days, and long before the MCU, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial crossed paths with Star Wars. It makes sense at first; after all, E.T. is an alien, so it’s within the realm of reason he would hail from a galaxy far, far away. And members of E.T.’s species can be found in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace. You can find the aliens in the scene where Queen Padmé Amidala calls for a vote of no confidence against Chancellor Valorum. Cheers can be found from various aliens, and one pod is filled with multiple E.T.s. Given the friendship between Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, resulting in the Indiana Jones franchise, it makes sense for a shoutout to exist, but it goes even further than that.

Is E.T. in Any Other Star Wars Projects?

To be honest, people should’ve known the two franchises had a connection when E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial first came out. There’s a scene in that movie where a kid wears a Yoda costume for Halloween, and E.T. walks up to the child like he knows them. If E.T. was one of the members of the Senate Committee on Coruscant, there’s a chance he bumped paths with Yoda before. With E.T.’s abilities, including making a bike fly, there’s a chance he was actually using the Force, meaning he could’ve been a Jedi. And if you’re a fan of Star Wars supplemental guides, there are even more Easter eggs.

James Luceno wrote the 2001 novel Cloak of Deception, which takes place prior to the events of The Phantom Menace. The book reveals the lead senator’s name is Grebleips, which is “Spielberg” spelled backward. However, this doesn’t mean it’s still technically canon. The book falls into the Star Wars Extended Universe, which was deemed non-canon after Disney bought the rights. And thanks to a 1985 book titled E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet, we know that the aliens’ species comes from a world called Brodo Asogi, which would make the species Asogiana, but that hasn’t come up officially in Star Wars yet.

It’s a lot of information for a brief cameo in a 1999 movie. But with so many Star Wars spin-offs and TV shows in the works, perhaps the Asogiana will return to a Lucasfilm project once again.